Food & Responsible Marketing

Sweden is developing standards to help consumers make conscious choices about the impact of their decisions on global warming. Products with at least 25% greenhouse gas savings will be marked in each food category, starting with plant production, dairy and fish products.

Big-name retailers like Tesco and Carrefour should help prepare consumers for innovations in the food sector, according to the top civil servant in the EU executive's directorate for health and consumer protection.

Intrusive marketing practices brought on by the Internet have attracted the attention of the European Parliament, with lawmakers concerned about guaranteeing citizens' privacy, said Philippe Juvin MEP in an interview with EURACTIV.

As MEPs prepare to vote on new food labelling rules, manufacturers are concerned that last-minute compromises could see two types of nutritional information appear on the front of packaging, which could overwhelm consumers.

MEPs have rejected calls for a mandatory EU-wide 'traffic light' system for food labels similar to the one currently applied in the UK, much to the disappointment of European consumer and health groups.

The European Commission has decided to delay a proposal regarding permitted health claims made on foods until the end of 2011, following concerns by industry and the incapacity of the European Food Safety Agency to deal with the submitted dossiers.

Politicians sometimes shy away from science, but they should be clear about why they reject scientific evidence in future, the European Commission’s first chief scientific advisor told EURACTIV. In an interview, she says GMOs are a good example of where policy has trumped science.

Ahead of a European Parliament vote tomorrow (16 June) on a European Commission proposal for a Regulation on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers, the director of the European Heart Network (EHN) called on MEPs to back "fair presentation" of the nutritional content of food products.

Traditionally, EU laws on advertising applied to print and broadcast media, but as adverts increasingly migrate to an unregulated online world, lawmakers and consumer groups are exploring ways to ensure that digital marketing does not infringe consumer rights.

Member states are nearing a deal on new food labelling rules that would leave wiggle room for industry to use their own labelling schemes and choose whether to show nutritional information on the front or back of a product's packaging.

While the food industry has taken a series of initiatives to restrict advertising of unhealthy products to children, consumer groups are not convinced and call for the development of stricter criteria. EURACTIV hears arguments from both sides of the debate in parallel interviews.

French food group Danone withdrew health claim applications on two of its bestselling yoghurts on Thursday (15 April), citing confusion about what scientific evidence was required from the company under the process to validate the claims.

Intrusive marketing practices brought on by the Internet have attracted the attention of the European Parliament, with lawmakers concerned about guaranteeing citizens' privacy, said Philippe Juvin MEP in an interview with EURACTIV.

Despite industry pledges, children are still being targeted in food adverts and such ads are moving from television to other media such as the Internet, says Ruth Veale of European consumers' organisation BEUC in an interview with EURACTIV.

Clearer food labelling and awareness-raising campaigns can help prevent an obesity epidemic in Europe, Liberal Romanian MEP Magor Imre Csibi told EURACTIV in an interview. But taxing high-fat foods is not part of the solution, he added.

Sedentary modern lifestyles and over-eating have raised obesity to the number one public health challenge of the 21st century, with rapidly increasing childhood obesity of particular concern to western nations. The Commission has given the food industry and advertising sector until 2010 to clean up its act.

EXCLUSIVE: Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are no riskier than their conventionally farmed equivalents, the European Commission’s Chief Scientific Advisor Anne Glover has told EURACTIV in an exclusive interview, calling for countries impeding GMO use to be put to proof.